The Damage To The Coral Reefs And What Can We Do About It.

Coral Reefs are often thought to be rocks, stones or plants on the sea bed; however Coral is actually composed of the limestone skeletons of a tiny spineless animal called Coral Polyp,When a coral dies, it leaves its skeleton of limestone behind Young corals attach themselves to the old skeleton and the cycle starts all over again. Coral reefs are usually found in shallow tropical waters located near the equator, shallow water is ideal for corals to survive as they need the sunlight.

At present Coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate, It Is estimated that 25 % of coral reef has already disappeared from our oceans, and studies have shown that 88% of reefs in South East Asia, known to be the richest specimens in the world are at risk. There are many reasons for the decline in Coral Reefs, such as pollution, disease, over fishing, dynamite fishing, sedimentation and bleaching.

Pollution causes damage to coral reefs due to poisons and heavy metals, Pollutions enter the oceans in various ways by oil spills, dumping of waste, acid rain, and exhaust pollution by boats and jet skis for example. Once these fumes and poisons have entered the coral through polyps, the polyps die and without the polyps no new corals can grow leading to complete destruction on the coral.

The disease can also affect coral, diseases occur due to biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic stresses, including fungi, bacteria and other viruses, abiotic stresses occur in the physical and chemical changes occur, such as differences in temperature and ultraviolet radiation from the surface. These diseases weaken the structure of corals and make them more vulnerable to colonization.

Overfishing and dynamite fishing is also a major problem for the survival of corals, overfishing destroying their sustainability, and dynamite or cyanide fishing destroys coral and flattens their structure, unwary fishermen also use sticks to scare the fish into a net, they do this by hitting the seabed and corals with great force that seriously damages corals.

Sedimentation can affect the coral, if the case of the sediments changing significantly and the amount of sediment in water prevents the right amount of light reaching the coral, it kills the algae and, finally, the coral reef. The coral bleaching is a stress response is generally caused by the temperature of the sea, if the temperature drops too low or too high, conditions are not ideal for corals, this is where the damage and bleaching begins.

We can do a few things to counteract these problems, a few suggestions are conserving water, reduce your carbon emissions, by walking instead of driving for example, dispose of waste correctly, Be responsible when diving or on a boat, try not to touch coral when diving, or do not anchor where coral is present. You could also volunteer on coral clean up operations or other marine projects around the world that are focusing on saving the coral reefs.